


The Worth of A Code

by alackzandrer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Heist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24109462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alackzandrer/pseuds/alackzandrer
Summary: Some time before the show, The Mandalorian teams up with some unsavory underworld types to pull off the score of a lifetime. he'll have to contend with pirates, the New Republic, Imperial Remnants and his own morality in order to pull it off and get out alive.
Kudos: 1





	1. The Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first longish Fic, so 1, your readership itself is appreciated and 2, any and all constructive criticism and feedback is welcomed.
> 
> Thanks!

**SENATOR’S HEAD BAR**

**THE WHITEDRIFT EXCHANGE**

**ORBIT OF KARAZAK**

**SOMETIME BEFORE THE SHOWDOWN ON NEVARRO…**

The bar was like so many others in the outer rim, it was dark, seedy, overcrowded with all manner of scum and villainy, raucous and above all it stank, both of alcohol and of things best left quiet, such as a plan to get fabulously rich a group of enterprising ne’er-do-wells were plotting in a particularly dark cubicle of the bar.

“They’re late” The Mandalorian stated matter-of-factly

“Yeah, why can’t you show us the plan now, so we can get rich quicker?” Qin asked, impatiently

“Come on, give it to us!” Xi’an hissed, continuing to fiddle with her dagger

“Patience, they’ll be here soon, and we can begin plotting in earnest” Ran replied

“What do we even need ‘em for? Mando’s the best pilot I know” Xi’an asked

“Appreciated” The Mandalorian replied curtly, which Xi’an returned with a sharp grin

“Well, Mando’s an equally good triggerman and trust me, we’re gonna need every one of those we can get, besides, the pilot comes highly recommended from my contacts in all of the major cartels” Ran answered

“well, I hope it wasn’t for their sense of timing” Xi’an replied, checking her chronometer. At that moment, 2 figures walked into the bar, their features obscured by the bright light of Karazak’s sun behind them, and to the silent confusion of the party, walked up to their cubicle and both sat down.

“Which one of you is the pilot?” Qin asked trying to hide his confusion

“Both of us” said the two figures, a tall human male with reddish-blonde hair and pale white skin wearing a non-descript flight jacket over a white shirt and grey trousers and a short human female with curly black hair and brown skin wearing an imperial uniform, tattered and modified but unmistakable with a captain’s insignia hanging around her neck.

“what?” Qin asked, no less confused

“we are the pilot your friend there,” the woman said, pointing to Ran,” has hired to be the pilot on some job your planning”

“we still haven’t gotten to that yet and also there are two of you” Qin stated

“flexibility of two, synchronisation of one” the man answered

“you still taking a cut as two people?” Qin asked

“hope so” the man replied

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this” Qin said

“trust” Ran replied

“care to tell us your names so we can move on with this?” The Mandalorian asked

“yeah, and who’d ya kill to get that uniform?” Xi’an interceded

“well, that second one is a loaded question, but in the sense of unlawful acquisition, no I didn’t kill anyone for it, I got it from my service. As for our names…” the woman replied pausing to look at the man for a second

“Martyr” the woman answered

“Ivory” the man replied

“how very self-aware of you” the woman commented, to which the man replied with a kind smile and a small laugh

“not your real names, why?” the Mandalorian asked

“well, one, we don’t trust any of you to not come for us if this goes sideways, no offence,” Martyr started

“none taken, jus’ good business sense” Ran replied

“thank you, second, I’m, as you may or may not have implied from the scruffy state of my uniform, an escaped “criminal” and wanted on charges of war crimes and Ivory here is a two-time defector, so if anyone listening in during the job heard our names, it would likely cause the New Republic to bring down all manner of heat on us, that none of us need” Martyr finished

“surely that would apply to any of us, save Mando ‘course, he don’t share his name with anybody” Xi’an asked

“well, did any of you commit the heinous crime of serving The Enemy?” no one spoke up “didn’t think so” Martyr retorted

“Now that we’re all introduced, can we please get on with this?” Qin asked, impatiently

“of course,” Ran replied, producing a holoprojector from his backpack and placing on the table and activating it to show a 3D map of some kind of angular skyscraper, “say hello to The Bastion Tower on Alzoc III, an old Imperial vault filled all kinds of treasures, artefacts and other such valuables now occupied by a particularly nasty gang of pirates who call themselves the Spikesharks”

“what do we want with it?” The Mandalorian asked, to which Ran shifted the image to that of a golden crown set with 7 ethereal, glowing crystals of different colours, “this is the Mantle of Xu’Vian VII and an… unfortunate friend of mine is willing to pay us all 2 million credits each for its acquisition” Ran answered, to which everyone responded to with sharp whistles

“where is it located?” The Mandalorian asked

“that I don’t know, but there should be a database located halfway up that should help you locate it” Ran answered, gesturing to the hologram, now back to showing The Bastion Tower

“whats the plan for getting it?” Qin asked

“well, first you’ll land at Alzoc III’s only major city, its capital of Thessima to get the lay of the land,” Ran started shifting the hologram to show a respectably large and tall city, but one that would have still have been put to shame by any city more corewards, “then, if everything seems clear, you’ll set off for The Bastion Tower, navigating through the winding service trenches around it to avoid it’s large compliment of Anti-Air batteries,” he shifted the hologram to show the network of trenches,

“those are very tight; we’ll be blown to pieces the moment we enter them” Qin protested

“why do you think he hired us?” Ivory replied, to which Qin responded with a grumble

“Anyway, once Martyr and Ivory have navigated their way through it, they’ll pull up and drop you off as close to the database as they can manage, you’ll then navigate your way to the database and find out where the Mantle is being stored, grab it, then find and disable the AA batteries so Ivory and Martyr can come pick you up from whichever floor you’ve ended up on, head to the coordinates the client will send you, hand the Mantle over and get stupid rich” Ran finished

“easy” Xi’an said

“seems that way” The Mandalorian cautioned

“well, let’s get rich, shall we?” Ran said, getting up and gesturing for everyone to follow him to the hangars.


	2. The City

After a while of navigating their way through the tangle of _The Whitedrift Exchange_ , the crew arrived at the hangar where the _Razor Crest_ was being stored, “why do I never get to fly my own ship?” The Mandalorian bemoaned

“I don’t know, babe” Xi’an replied, half mockingly as they all boarded the ship and Ivory and Martyr took the pilot and co-pilot seats

“everyone ready?” Ivory asked, to which the crew responded to with formal grunts, the pilots then flicked the ship causing it to grumble into life, then, in perfect synchronisation, pulled the _Razor Crest_ up and out of the hangar bay aimed it in the direction of the Alzoc system and punched the hyperdrive into action, causing the stars to speed by into white streaks as they entered hyperspace. “that never gets old does it?” Ivory sighed, leaning back in his chair

“no it does not” Martyr replied

“careful with my ship” The Mandalorian said, clambering up into cockpit

“appreciate the advice, but you can stay down in the hold and plan your plan of attack with the others” Martyr replied

“Ran laid out the plan well enough, I don’t think that will be necessary” The Mandalorian countered

“If you insist, Mando, why don’t you tell anyone your name or show your face, we gave our reasons, what’s yours?” Ivory asked

“it is the way” The Mandalorian stated

“that sounds like an honour code” Ivory noted

“of a sort” The Mandalorian replied

“heh, Martyr here can tell you all about the terrible things an unshakable code can make you do” Ivory said ominously

“ooh, so many things but, on the other hand, being without one can leave a broken, drifting mess as Ivory can well tell you” Martyr replied

“I can see Imperial service rattled you two” The Mandalorian said

“no kidding, but hey made some friends along the way” Ivory replied

“lost most of them too” Martyr added

“when did you realise it was all over for the empire?” Tha Mandalorian asked

“honestly, I wasn’t totally sure which way it would go until the 2nd death star went boom” Ivory answered

“Jakku” Martyr answered shortly

“a true loyalist, huh?” The Mandalorian said

“like Ivory said, I have, had… not sure, a stringent code of honour ingrained in me from my culture” Martyr replied

“that she does, say, when do you realise it was all over?” Ivory asked

“Honestly, when it happened, I keep up with galactic politics insofar as it concerns my next pay check, I was working an assassination job on this grimy backwater planet, some local aristocrat had gotten in bad with some underworld types and they wanted him scrubbed, so, when I get to his office he’s watching the holoscreen and its showing the news of the signing of The Galactic Concordance and I say ‘bad day for business, huh?’” The Mandalorian said with a morose chuckle

“must have been, especially for you, considering how hard the NR has cracked down on the Bounty Hunter’s Guild” Ivory said

“you got that right, business is rough, one of the reasons I signed on this crazy mission,” The Mandalorian replied, “though, what happened next cheered me up no end,”

“What happened?” Ivory asked

“he begs for his life, by saying he’s got children, I mean, what kind of innately positive mark on your character is that, so, I put a blaster bolt between his eyes” The Mandalorian laughed followed by Ivory and Martyr

“Tell me about it, my dad had me and that didn’t make him not an abusive asshole” Ivory replied, exasperated

“hah!” Martyr laughed, “I didn’t know Mandalorians had such a sense of humour, well honestly, I don’t much at all about Mandalorians, you guys are rarer than a black-spotted Muunyak, tell me, are any of the stories true? Did you tame the Mythosaurs? Can you take on an entire squad of stormtroopers single handed? Did you forge a saber from the stars themselves?” Martyr asked, the light coming back into her eyes for the first time in what seemed a very long time. The Mandalorian remained stony silent and before Martyr could prod him again, the _Razor Crest_ lurched out of hyperspace above Alzoc III, its bleached bone-white surface standing out against the inky void. “ok folks, bringing us in, be ready, we don’t know what could be waiting for us down there” Ivory called down into the hold, the rest of the crew, soon joined by The Mandalorian, were already kitting themselves out with armour, weapons and general kit from the _Razor Crest_ ’s armoury as the pilots brought the ship down past the wreckage of a planetary sheild ring and through the thick atmosphere and onto a landing pad in Thessima’s central district. “you two packing?” Ran asked Ivory and Martyr

“of course we’re packing, we are wanted criminals” Martyr replied like Ran was an idiot

“Jus’ checkin,’” Ran said defensively, pressing the release button to drop the ramp and being greeted by nothing but the hub-hub of the city, “that’s a relief, but stay on guard, let’s go find a local watering hole and find out what’s what” he finished, gesturing for the crew, save the pilots to follow him, which they did.

“now, don’t be leavin’ us behind, ok?” Xi’an called back to the pilots as the crew made their way from the ship, Martyr responded to this with a look of the utmost incredulity

“are you questioning my honour?” Martyr replied angrily

“you’re a no-good low-down criminal, course I’m questioning your honour” Xi’an answered

“we are not going to leave you behind!” Martyr shouted as if her very essence was being questioned, slamming the button to retract the ramp

“whatever ya say, hot stuff!” Xi’an called, returning to face the group, “wow, that girl is wound up tightly”

“of course she is, they’ve both been fighting a war probably since they graduated school, cut them some slack” The Mandalorian replied

“well, we haven’t exactly had it easy, have we?” Xi’an countered

“well, you are psychotic, so the mayhem of the civil war was your element” The Mandalorian

“Thanks, babe” Xi’an replied

“cut the chatter you two and keep an eye out, I get the feeling outlanders ‘aint welcome here” Ran called as they entered a seedy-looking but helpfully populated bar called The Governor’s Arms, drawing suspicious looks from the locals as they went. The bar itself was almost indistinguishable from the on The Whitedrift, save for some regional trappings: dark and seedy and filled with pliable mouths. “ok everyone, fan out and see what you can learn about these Spikesharks” Ran said, the group splitting up to grill patrons for any information that may be useful for their assault on The Bastion.

“I can’t say ‘nothin, they’ll take me and do gods know what to me” whispered an anxious Ithorian, her translator crackling

“They paid me a pretty credit, hic, to bring in some of that cheap red gas for their blasters, so I’d guess their trying to arm a large force on the cheap, now, you gonna buy me that drink?” a drunk Kessurian mumbled

“donna go there, is’a cursed!” a terrified Gungan wailed

“I’m the fastest flier on Alzoc III!” a shabby Arkanian in an unkempt flight suit grandly proclaimed, unprompted

“poor old Hal-Tek got blown out of the sky by their guns for slipping into their self-declared airspace for a second” an Imroosian lamented

These tales of terror and impenetrability were all the crew were able to get with little variation, so they all eventually gave up and reconvened at the entrance

“Anyone learn anything o’ use?” Ran asked

“this is a suicide mission and we are all doomed to fall to the curse of Darth Evilus or something” Xi’an replied, spinning her dagger in contempt

“I thought that was already clear from the brief” The Mandalorian said flatly

“heh,” Qin chuckled, “all I was able to learn was that they’ve got a lot of goons holed up in there but their armed with the cheap red stuff”

“well, at least that’s something, good thing the _Razor Crest_ doubles as a flying armoury” Ran noted, gesturing for the other three to follow him back to the _Razor Crest_ , keeping a low profile as they did so to avoid the ire of the ever-suspicious locals, though as they’d just learnt this may have been more down to fear of their pirate masters than plain xenophobia. They eventually made their way back to the _Razor Crest_ and banged on the ramp for Ivory and Martyr to open it up, which they did so.

“how did it go?” Martyr asked, wearing a pleased but bedraggled expression

“the locals are all quaking in their boots on account of the pirates, we weren’t able to learn much except there is a lot of them” Qin replied

“ah well, lets hope these pirates aren’t ones for surprises, get on and let’s go find out” Ivory said, wearing a similar expression to Martyr.


	3. The Trench

The crew filed on and began picking out some weapons and ordnance as the _Razor Crest_ took off for The Bastion, flying low and fast over Alzoc III’s bleached and empty plains 

“what’s to say someone, for example, The Bad Doctor, hasn’t already got their hands on this score, seems like something she’d be all over” Qin asked, holstering a DL-50 he’d picked out

“that is a fair point, but I ain’t heard nothin’ ‘bout her since just before Endor, seems the Empire may have finally come to collect” Ran noted, still perusing the armoury 

“ah, that’d suck, she owes me credits” Xi’an bemoaned, holstering a DLT-19 over her shoulder with one hand and juggling a thermal detonator in the other

“she owes credits to everyone from here to Exegol, get in line” The Mandalorian replied, sticking with his usual loadout of a BM-94 blaster pistol and Amban sniper rifle

“Exegol doesn’t exist” Qin countered

“I think that’s the point he’s making, now let’s just hope she or anyone else didn’t get to our prize before—” Ran started before being cut off by the _Razor Crest_ violently lurching downwards

“sorry about that, brace yourselves, we’re entering the trenches, this is going to get bumpy” Martyr called from the cockpit, the crew bracing themselves against any support they could find as the ship swerved hard to the left, throwing anything not nailed down every which way

“force be damned, are you two insane?” Qin called as the ship swerved violently to right

“better insane than dead!” Ivory replied as he and Martyr pulled the ship sideways to slip between 2 oncoming obstructions, throwing the crew against the wall

“point made!” Xi’an hissed. Ivory and Martyr continued to weave the _Razor_ _Crest_ through the tangle of service trenches at ludicrous speeds, throwing crew and cargo all over but leaving nary a scratch on the ship itself.

“Bastion inbound, this is where the fun begins!” Ivory called back after another mad but perfectly executed manoeuvre as The Bastion Tower loomed over them, an indomitable obsidian black monolith reaching into the sky.

“what was this? A warmup?” Qin called 

“stop complaining and prepare yourself for possible hostile contact!” The Mandalorian countered as Ivory and Martyr pulled the _Razor Crest_ into the vertical, perfectly parallel with The Bastion, skirting just above its hard shell, swerving through obtrusions at continually mad speeds before arriving at their destination, an observation platform halfway up the structure.

“do you see why we were hired? The rest is up to you lot now, good luck” Ivory called as he and Martyr stabilised the ship back into the horizontal

“and may the force be with you” Martyr proclaimed, clambering down to close the ramp after the crew.

“that’s a load of nonsense” Qin heckled

“I’ll take every take every advantage I can get, personally” Ran countered holstering a blaster he’d picked out and opening the ramp, jumping down to the observation platform and gesturing for Xi’an, Qin and The Mandalorian

“see you soon, crazy lady!” Xi’an called back to Martyr having offboarded

“the same” Martyr replied flatly, closing the ramp on the ship which quickly dived out of sight back into the trenches


	4. The Heist

“I can see why you hired them, Ran, they’re good, I’ll give that even if they are suicidal levels of crazy” Xi’an noted as the crew entered the structure, at this level, a seires of tight, underlit and utilitarian corridors that looked like they could have been ripped straight out of an Imperial Star Destroyer

“you can talk, and I still don’t like having to split our pay 2 more ways” Qin grumbled

“shut it you two, Ran, which way to the database console?” The Mandalorian reprimanded, checking a corner for hostiles

“according to the tracker down that corridor” Ran answered, pointing down a long corridor from the end of which a blue light and low mechanical humming were emanating

“easy” Qin said

“seems that way. you and Xi’an, cover our flank” The Mandalorian commanded

“who put you in charge?” Qin argued

“jus’ do it, getting ambushed before we even know where our prize is would be a real bad way to start” Ran interceded

“Fine” Qin complained, the crew making their way down the long corridor, heads on a swivel for any enemy contact.

After a slow and steady march down the corridor, the crew arrived at the database room, a small but tall room in order to house the tall databank column which glowed a stark blue

“Mando, see if you can get what we need from the console” Ran called as they entered the room

“On it, just cover me, this could take a while” The Mandalorian replied, making his way to the console and began to search through it for the location of the crown and AA control systems, filing through structural integrity readouts, crew rosters, inventories, communication transcripts and flight registers among other now useless bits of data.

“whats taking so long?” Qin complained as The Mandalorian continued to Siv through the digi-trash

“give me time, this place was obviously a hub of activity during the time of The Empire and whoever oversaw this databank obviously wasn’t very good at file management, so some patience would be…” The Mandalorian started before a footstep sound came from down one of the leading corridors and grabbed the crew’s attention.

After a seeming eternity of baited silence, a clearly drunk Trandoshan in pirate’s garb stumbled out of the shadows of the corridor into databank room and looked lazily around the room seeming not that perturbed by the crew’s presence

“hey… you guys aren’t supposed to be…” the Trandoshan started groggily before Xi’an cut him off by driving a dagger into his neck and dragging him silently to the floor

“I was hopeing for more of a challenge, but a kill is a kill” Xi’an said nonchalantly, breaking the silence

“honestly, I’m just glad that guy was a drunk as he was, otherwise that could have severely complicated matters, Mando, you got what we need yet?” Ran stated after taking a deep breath of relief

“I have, the crown is 6 floors above us, Level 5 Initiative Assets, whatever that means and the AA guns are controlled from the, well, control centre on the top floor, sending the data to the tracker, which one should we go for first?” The Mandalorian replied

“AA guns first, once we grab the crown, we might need to scram in a hurry, now, which way are the turbolifts?” Ran decided

“they are down the corridor that Trandoshan came from” The Mandalorian stated

“ah,” Ran started, “well lets hope that guy wasn’t having a party with some friends, come on” he finished, gesturing for the crew to follow him, which they did, skulking down the shadowed tangle of hallways that, according to the tracker, lead to the turbolifts. After many slow, silent minutes the crew found the turbolift which was, as Ran had predicted, occupied, fortunately, they were both even more black out drunk than the first one they met, seemingly not even conscious, but just to play it safe, and also because she liked doing it, Xi’an swiftly sliced both their throats as Ran called a lift down.

“I hate to agree with my brother, but this is seeming way to easy, even accounting for my well-honed skills” Xi’an noted as the crew stepped into the arrived lift and sent it up to control centre

“those 3 were black-out drunk, I doubt all of them will be in such a state considering how much fear they seem to strike into the locals” The Mandalorian countered, checking his equipment

“personally, the sooner we find the crown and get paid the better, all this sneaking around is just grinding my gears, not that I’m some no-good rust-bucket” Ran complained, cracking his knuckles

“good, I would have to kill you if you where” The Mandalorian replied flatly

“that a threat?” Qin retorted

“you really are quite dense aren’t you, Qin?” Xi’an barbed, balancing her dagger

“that’s a threat” Qin spat

“stop squabbling, we’re almost to the top” Ran interceded, gesturing to the floor indicator, which opened in short order to reveal the control centre, currently occupied by 4 relaxed but sober Spikesharks fiddling with various consoles in the room.

“hey, you hear that they’ve moved the captives to the upper floors, that’s in our patrol circuit” one pirate asked another

“might get to have some fun with ‘em” another salivated

“keep it professional, ya slobs” reprimanded a third

“ah, let them have our fu---” started the fourth before one of Xi’an’s dagger struck straight into his jugular

“hey, what the---” the second started before he was domed by an amban sniper bolt to the head, shortly followed by the third and first getting stunned by Qin vaulting over a bank of consoles, kicking them both in the chest, and then downing them with a burst of laser fire.

“that was dramatic” The Mandalorian stated, in reference to Qin’s battle gymnastics

“I’ll take that as a compliment” Qin sniped

“come on, let’s find us an AA control console” Ran said, beginning to search the room, followed by the rest of the group. All functions of The Bastion truly were controlled through here: lights, doors, cameras, turbolifts, intercom as well as a few external functionalities: service trench status, a distress call button and communication consoles with other Imperial installations, The Citadel on Scarif, The Keep on Gan Moradir, The Fortress on Nur and The Castle on Mustafar (this last one had a holo-note attached to it reading: FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, DO NOT CONTACT EXCEPT WITH GOOD NEWS).

“good thing these guys weren’t paying attention, there are a million ways for ‘em to see us coming” Ran noted, continuing to search the rows of consoles

“lucky us, you think all these installations are filled with treasures so lucrative someone is willing to pay us 2 million credits a piece?” Xi’an pondered with a ravenous glint in her eyes

“let’s go find out how much these are worth first because,” Qin started before destroying a console in a hail of laser fire followed by the sound of depowering electronics, “I just disabled the AA systems”

“wit? From you Qin? I am impressed” The Mandalorian quipped

“lets go get that crown before I punch you” Qin retorted, making for the Turbolift

“I concur” Ran said, filing into the turbolift followed by Xi’an and The Mandalorian.

The crew mulled in silence, checking their weapons as the turbolift descended to Level 5 Initiative Assets, the doors parting to reveal several branching corridors. After the crew swiftly dispatching the 2 pirates who were supposed to be guarding the lifts, Ran checked the tracker for which corridor the crown was stored in before gesturing for the crew to follow him down the furthest left one.

The corridor was long with many doors on both sides marked with ominous but vague names of various imperial projects: Auger, containing nothing but old knick-knacks, Veil-Piercer, containing ancient religious texts, old journals of deep-space travellers and musty star maps attempting to chart the Unknown Regions, Stardust, containing sheets of quadanium steel and storage crates that all glowed from within with different but equally ominous colours, Star-Wraith, containing a skeleton attached to various inscrutable contraptions that kept vanishing and reappearing in different parts of the room, War-Mantle, containing a pedestal atop which stood a bejewelled crown.

“I think this is the one” Qin called, gesturing to the crown

“payday!” Xi’an laughed ravenously

“careful now, we don’t know what security measures might be in place” The Mandalorian cautioned

“shut up Mando, we are getting paid,” Qin retorted, smashing the door down and the grabbing the crown from its pedestal, “see? Easy” Qin gloated

It was at that moment a deafening cacophony of alarms exploded around them.


	5. The Escape

“godsdammit Qin, back to the turbolift, quickly!” Ran reprimanded, gesturing for the crew to follow him as he sprinted for the turbolift, at which point the doors of the turbolift parted to release a swarm of angry and armed Spikesharks

“ok, Plan B!” Ran asked as he sprinted back to the group, pirates in pursuit

“this floor seems thin enough that a thermal detonator should be able to blow a hole it” Xi’an suggested

“do it!” Ran commanded as the pirates barrelled towards them, Xi’an then taking out a thermal detonator, priming it and then rolling it towards the oncoming horde resulting in a deafening explosion, pirates thrown everywhere and the creation of a sizeable hole

“boom!” Xi’an hissed with pride

“Go!” Ran commanded, the crew all jumping through the hole, down into some manner of cell block

“this must be where they keep the people they kidnap, all empty though, interesting” The Mandalorian pondered

“fun story, mando! We gotta move, tracker says there’s an observation platform opposite end of this floor, call Ivory and Martyr and tell them where we are so they can pick us up!” Ran stressed

“on it,” The Mandalorian replied, activating his commlink, “Mandalorian to _Razor Crest_ , we’ve acquired the crown, but everything’s gone to hell, pick us up on observation platform 5 floor above the one you dropped us off on, speed would very much be appreciated!” 

After a worrying moment of silence from the commlink, Martyr’s voice crackled into life saying “ _Razor Crest_ to Mandalorian, we hear you and are on our way, may the force be with you”

“what is with that girl and her dusty old religion?” Xi’an questioned

“I think we could _really_ do with the help right now, come on!” Ran countered, the crew following him as he sprinted through the cell block, the doors at the end opening into a large cafeteria area with three other corridors branching off from it, filled with terrified civilians and primed and ready pirates who almost immediately spotted the crew entering

“we don’t got time for this, straight ahead, run!” Ran commanded, the crew sprinting through the cafeteria, pirates blasting at them from all directions, making for the far door

“close the blast doors!” a pirate called as the crew continued their mad dash, a blast door beginning to seal over their exit, the crew sprinting even faster in response and diving through just as the doors sealed

“everyone ok?” Ran asked, taking deep breaths even as the alarms continued to blare incessantly 

“check” The Mandalorian replied

“a-ok” Xi’an chuckled morosely

No reply came from Qin

“where’s Qin?” Xi’an asked with uncharacteristic worry

“He must not have made it through in time” The Mandalorian stated, picking up the crown, which had made it through

“karabast!” Xi’an swore, staring, and pointing, daggers at the other two

“we can’t go back for him, there were approximately 20 hostiles in that room likely more, he is most probably dead, we have to get to the platform and get out of here before we join him in whatever afterlife you believe in” The Mandalorian stated plainly

Xi’an hissed hatefully before saying “fine, let’s go”, the crew getting up and making their way through the tangle of corridors towards the observation platform, dispatching any pirates they encountered as swiftly as they could, turning the last corner to the observation platform to come face to face with a pack of pirates holding a group of civilians hostage, blocking their path

“not one step further, ya bandits, who sent ya? The Martezes, The Pykes, Black Sun? never mind, I don’t care, jus’ put down what ya took and maybe we let you live” taunted one of the pirates, seemingly the leader of the Spikesharks, an ostentatiously dressed Elomin who wore a gold badge of what looked like a codex with the credit symbol on its cover.

“we do not have time for this!” The Mandalorian stated as the other two stood there despite the increasingly loud sounds of the horde behind them, seizing the DLT-50 from Xi’an and opening fire on the crowd, mowing them all down

“credits above! You enjoyed that didn’t you, Mando?” Xi’an exclaimed once the cries and screams had died down, licking her lips at the slaughter, seemingly enough to restore her psychotic mojo

“I did not, lets just get out here” The Mandalorian countered firmly, making his way down the corridor, past the dead and dying, towards the exit onto the observation platform. Once the crew arrived at the exit, they opened the door to reveal an empty platform with no sign of the _Razor Crest_. At that moment, a swarm of pirates turned the corner and began barrelling towards them.

“godsdammit, those two have no sense of timing” Xi’an cursed, taking cover and returning fire from behind some storages crates that had been left near the exit, presumably after the Tauntaun droppings had started hitting the oxygen rotator. The other two joined her in returning fire, slaying innumerable pirates only to see them replaced by yet more pirates, clambering over their fallen comrades in a mad scramble to get to the crown back, blasting away as they did so. This macabre ebb and flow continued for some time with pirates surging forward ,getting cut down, falling back and then surging back anew with filled ranks until the crew’s blasters got so hot from continual fire they were forced to stop using them, allowing the swarm to draw in closer.

“where in the hells are you?!” Xi’an screamed down her commlink, narrowly dodging a blaster bolt as she did so. As if in response, the doors to the observation platform parted to reveal the _Razor Crest_ and Martyr on its ramp, holding some sort of ejector weapon.


	6. The Hiding

“get down!” she called, the crew instinctively hitting the deck as a plume of flame shot over their heads incinerating the vanguard of the horde and getting the survivors to back off for the time being

“get on!” she called again, switching to her blaster to provide covering fire as the crew desperately clambered aboard, closing the ramp behind them, the ship blasting off as fast as Ivory could make it once it was.

The crew all breathed hard and shakily as they tried to collect themselves, Ivory joining the rest after setting the ship to auto-pilot back to Thessima

“that looked like it went less than smoothly” Ivory noted morosely

“you can say that again, Qin jus’ couldn’t help himself and jus’ went for the crown, not a care for any possible security measures, which o’ course there where” Ran bemoaned, Xi’an hissing in response

“what happened to Qin?” Martyr asked

“he wasn’t able to make it through some closing blast doors” Xi’an seethed

“we’ve still got the crown though” Xi’an smiled toothily, getting a disapproving look from Martyr

“yes, we do” The Mandalorian stated solemnly, producing the crown for them to see

“ah,” Ivory breathed, “anything else we need to know?”

“well, Mando here mowed down a load of civilians being held hostage in our way. Not only the women, but the men and the children too.” Xi’an cackled, licking her lips

“I did what I had to do” The Mandalorian stated curtly

“indeed, you did now, aah!” Ran started before groping for his knee in pain

“what’s wrong?” Ivory asked

“one of those damn nerfs must have landed a lucky shot on my knee, hurts like mad, but I think I’ll live to swindle another day” Ran chuckled morosely

“good, now, lets get back to Thessima and find out where we need to deposit the crown to get paid so my brother’s death wasn’t in---” Xi’an started before a warning claxon from the cockpit cut her off

“what the hells is that for?” Xi’an asked with a hint of worry

“I’ll go check,” Ivory replied, scrambling up to the cockpit, “bad news folks, a squadron of NR fighters are on their way here, must of heard about the commotion and figured this would be a good opportunity to scratch out the Spikesharks and acquire the last of the great Imperial installations in one fell swoop, which is great for them, but we really don’t want to get caught in the crossfire”

“what do you suggest we do then?” Ran called back

“well, we can’t use the trenches, the pirates will be searching those, and we can’t go back to Thessima because the NR will be searching that, ah, uhmm, ah! Topographical readouts suggest there is a canyon 10 clicks west of here, we could hide in there until this all blows over” Ivory suggested 

“go!” Ran commanded, Martyr scrambling up to the cockpit to join Ivory in flying the ship which swerved hard to the west and began descending rapidly, skirting over the bone-white plains at breakneck speed towards the canyon. Upon arrival, Ivory and Martyr cut the engines, letting the ship drop like a rock down the canyon causing The Mandalorian, Xi’an and Ran to curse prefusly before Ivory and Martyr restarted the engines centimetres from the canyon floor and manoeuvring the ship to hide in a tight crevice in the far wall of the canyon.

“ok, it’s official, you two are crazier than a monkey-lizard on spice!” Xi’an proclaimed, exasperated

“we’re alive though? Aren’t we?” Ivory countered as he and Martyr clambered down into the hold

“you won’t be if you keep yapping” Xi’an threatened with a devilish smile

“do as the nice lady says Ivory, you seem to enjoy life” Martyr added

“so, you admit you like me, do you?” Xi’an replied suggestively

“force forbid no, I would never like never mind date a psychopath like you” Martyr retorted

“but you’d date a psychopath like him?” Xi’an asked, gesturing to Ivory, “don’t think I hadn’t noticed”

“yeah, because he’s got an emotional range wider than just kill crazy” Martyr answered

“Thanks for the compliments, I think?” Ivory replied, quite befuddled

“now that is… sorted, what are yawl gonna spend your 2 mil on, when we get it?” Ran asked the crew

“first, where _are_ we dropping off the crown to get paid?” Xi’an asked in response

“contact thought it need to know, so gave me a frequency to transmit on to inform them we’d acquired the crown and they’d send back the coordinates for the drop, but I don’t think sending a transmission right now is the best idea with the NR most likely scrubbing all frequencies for even a hint of criminal activity” Ran answered

“fair point, I think I’ll spend my share on a collection of lavishly expensive daggers made from the rarest materials: Aurodium, Bescar, Haysian Smelt, Caldoth-stone, you get the idea. Predictable, I know, but what can I say? A lady needs her tools” Xi’an answered 

“I think me and Ivory are going to spend our share on a nice homestead somewhere warm but not too warm, far away from all the conflict and politics of the galaxy, we’ve had more than a lifetimes worth of those, I think” Martyr answered

“what about you, Mando?” Ran asked after The Mandalorian didn’t answer

“I don’t know” The Mandalorian answered broodily

“ooo, moody, all edge and no smiles now Mando? It was only what, 40 civies? Surely “the way” isn’t that punitive?” Xi’an mocked to which The Mandalorian returned what was very clearly, even with the helmet, a hateful stare.

“40 civ---?! Be at least a little respectful, you psycho, he saved your lives at great moral cost to himself” Martyr argued

“morals don’t pay the bills, sweetheart” Xi’an teased

“she has a point; you’ve got to be willing to be flexible with your morals sometimes and a hard code is just gonna get ya killed” Ran agreed

“ooh, I feel like that’s a sore spot for both of them” Martyr commented as Ivory and The Mandalorian glared Ran down. This tense silence continued for some time before Ivory changed the subject and the crew returned to what passed for polite conversation among them until nightfall and they felt it safe to send a transmission to the client and head off for the coordinates.

“client says an abandoned Old Republic research platform around the sun of the Skynara system” Ran said after sending out the transmission

“the Skynara system? Client must be nostalgic. It being a well-used branch of the Llanic Spice Run back in the day, though with the almost constantly shifting fuel prices, regimes and regulations in this neck of galaxy of the past few decades, it mostly gets cut out nowadays. Could also be them being pragmatic, the infamous heat and brightness of Skynara’s sun and it’s ability to fry most detection systems known to sentientkind will forever remain, even if the spicerunners don’t” Ivory noted

“since when did you know so much about the history of spicerunning?” Ran asked

“he’s a fan of the old spicerunner and smuggler adventure holonovels, you know, the ones with the chiselled roguish macho protagonists who visit exotic locales, beds various colours of women, always outwits the law and gets the fainting ingenue” Martyr answered with great contempt 

“that was when I was like… 13, Martyr” Ivory stuttered, clearly embarrassed

“whatever you say, now come on, we got a job to finish” Martyr called quasi-cheerfully, clambering up into the cockpit followed by Ivory muttering stormily. Regardless, the ship soon took off, manoeuvring out of the canyon, jetting out of the atmosphere and punching its way into hyperspace towards Skynara.


	7. The Deal

“you embarrassed me in front of the psychopaths” Ivory complained

“better embarrassed than dead” Martyr countered 

“true, they’re all even more unstable than we are, though Mando seems like the least likely to snap and kill us, even with his morals having been considerably shaken” Ivory commented

“what about Ran? He seems stable enough” Martyr asked

“eh, he’s a sleazy underworld type, there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll attempt to scratch us out if this deal goes south” Ivory explained

“true, Xi’an?” Martyr asked

“oh, Xi’an is nuts, I can never tell if she’s planning to stab us or kiss us” Ivory answered

“she really has it out for me, doesn’t she?” Martyr asked semi-rhetorically

“in all in senses of the word yes, she is definitely a few kyber crystals short of a---” Ivory started

“don’t, don’t do that, that’s just bad taste” Martyr stopped him

“yeah, you’re right, that was uncool, after everyone we’ve lost on and because of those damn battle stations,” Ivory sighed, taking a pause, “hey, back there, about buying a homestead somewhere warm but not too warm, were you serious about that?”

“Th---, Ivory,” Martyr caught herself in case the others, who they were trusting less and less, heard, “we’ve known each what? almost 20 years? How can you not tell when I am and am not being serious?”

“I know, I know, I was just checking. I am definitely with idea though; I feel like we’ve had enough trials and tribulations for a 1,000 generations” Ivory said

“force be with us on that, we can toast to it when we get back to The Whitedrift” Martyr suggested

“ _if_ we get back, we’re here” Ivory countered as the ship dropped back into realspace above the infamously hot and bright sun of the Skynara system, glowing an ethereal light blue.

“force almighty! You were not kidding, that is bright! Can we autopilot this? I don’t want to have escaped a band of motley pirates and the NR only to fall into a sun because I can’t see where I’m going” Martyr exclaimed

“unfortunately not, this system was a haven for spicerunners and other nefarious types for centuries for a reason, we are going to have to pilot this rust bucket manually, and we’ve known each other for what? Almost 20 years? I think we both know we can pull this off” Ivory noted with a smirk

“hah hah,” Martyr laughed semi-sarcastically, “well, let’s get to it” the two beginning to manoeuvre the ship towards the given coordinates with what navigational equipment still functioned, dodging past and through fields of asteroids and wrecks of ancient smuggler ships. After a while of this blind run, a very nerve-wracking experience for the crew in the hold, all already at their wits end, the _Razor Crest_ pulled to a stop above the research platform.

“unknown craft, identify yourself and your purpose here immediately or you will be fired upon” came a harsh authoritarian voice originating from the platform

“hey Ran! I think the client, or one of their lackeys at least, wants to know who we are and why we are here, get up here” Ivory called down into hold

“hold ‘em a second!” Ran called, clambering into the cockpit, “this is Ranzar Malk, me and my crew have acquired the Mantle of Xu’Vian VII as requested and would like to payed as promised”

After a concerning moment of silence the voice returned saying “noted. Please board and you will be escorted to your client and will be given the promised reward in exchange for the Mantle”

“affirmative, Ranzar out” Ran signed off with a mocking salute. Ivory and Martyr promptly landed the ship in the platform’s docking bay.

“no weapons everyone, these folks seem testy, so no need to provoke them” Ran cautioned to the crew as descended into the hold

“ugh, fine” Xi’an complained leaving her daggers and carelessly dropping the thermal detonators she been stockpiling

The Mandalorian said only “don’t let them touch the ship” to Ivory and Martyr as he unequipped is weapons

Ran then opened the ramp, being greeting by a sleek black protocol droid flanked by two less than pristine stormtroopers

“hello, my name is OM-N1, please follow me to my master” OM-N1 said chirpily. OM-N1 lead the crew through the winding corridors of the platform, passing by many equally shabby stormtroopers to their escort guarding various rooms of imperial officers busy at work with various terminals and holo-tables, there were also a number of banners with a modified imperial insignia on them adorning the corridors where old republic ones had presumably once been.

“imps, huh? I thought they’d all surrendered after Jakku or fled off to who knows where” Xi’an pondered

“nope, some of the particularly fanatically suicidal contingents seem to have stayed in populated space for seemingly no other reason than to cause mischief” Ran answered 

“silence!” barked one of their escorts. The crew continued to be led through the corridors until they arrived at a large meeting room and where shown in. the room was dominated by a large conference table flanked by a window looking out onto the sun, basking the room in an eerie glow, currently occupied only by a domineering imperial officer with a captain’s insignia and a chiselled face with buzz cut black hair as well as a more meek looking officer who was presumably the captain’s attendant.

“please, sit” the captain said in pleasant but nonetheless forceful manner, the crew did so

“my name is Captain Pex, a pleasure doing business with you, do you have the mantle?” Captain Pex asked politely

“we do” The Mandalorian stated curtly, producing the mantle and placing between the crew and Pex who smiled a broad greedy smile at its sight

“oh this will do quite well, thank you, here is your payment” Pex grinned, taking a briefcase that had been sitting at his side and pushing it towards the crew, Ran ravenously cracking it open to reveal a trove of credits

“these better not be imperial, you know those are worthless these days” Ran inquired

“don’t worry, all NR mint, much as it hurts my soul” Pex assuaged

“where did a, if you don’t mind me saying, ramshackle operation such as this get its hand on 12 million NR credits?” Xi’an asked, much to Ran’s panic and Pex’s detest 

“does it matter?” Pex swerved

“’course not, credits are credits” Xi’an laughed, much to everyone’s relief

“now that that’s cleared up, if you count you will find the 2 mil each as promised, well, 2.4” Pex said

“why 2.4?” Ran asked

“you lost one of the crew during the heist, did you not?” Pex attempted to clarify

“how did you know about that?” Ran asked, highly suspicious

“I hear things, I hope you weren’t followed” Pex swerved again

“we definitely were not, hired some of the best pilots this side of a certain farm boy for the job” Ran jibed

“good, good,” Pex mused, visibly fuming, “now I believe that is everything, lieutenant, open a line to the Supreme Leader”

“Captain?” the lieutenant stuttered, taken aback, “if I may speak freely, surely we should give this to Hessar or Gideon or whoever is holding our leash at the moment, they’ll probably want retribution if we cut them out” 

“trust me lieutenant, you’ve never even seen, never mind spoken to, the supreme leader, her wrath will be 1000 times worse than anything Hessar or Gideon can bring to bear if we give the mantle to them and they don’t give it to her, now I am understood?” Pex clarified forcefully

“yes, captain” the lieutenant said, scurrying off to an adjacent room

“now that is cleared up, I bid your farewell and that your days may be ever… lucrative” Pex said, seeming to mull over their words

“Heh, been good doin’ business with you” Ran replied, taking the briefcase and gesturing for The Mandalorian and Xi’an to follow him. the crew hurried quickly back to the _Razor Crest_ and boarded promptly, not wanting to stay on the platform any longer than was necessary. The ship quickly departed, and the crew began splitting up their cut.

“ah, this is good, only the finest daggers will do” Xi’an fantasied, salivating over her cut

“should keep the cartels of my back, least for a bit” Ran noted to nobody in particular

The Mandalorian remained silent

“so, where are we thinking for this idyllic homestead? Dantooine? Kef Bir? Valucan? Alaris Prime?” Ivory mused to Martyr 

“I don’t know, I’ll have to give it some more thought,” Martyr pondered, “on an unrelated note, those guys back there dishonour the position of Imperial Serviceperson, and that’s accounting for my significantly lower opinion of the Empire in recent years”

“I see what you mean, those guys were just like any other outlaw faction I’ve ‘ad dealings with, just with a lot more pomp and circumstance but hey, at least they pay we---” Ran started before being cut off by another warning claxon from the cockpit

“what is it now?” Martyr fretted, scurrying up to cockpit to check, “it seems they’d like to keep the fact of their acquisition of the mantle on the down low, as they’ve just sent a squad of TIE fighters after us and… wait, is that?...!”


	8. The Defender

“what is it?” Ivory asked, worried

“get up here!” Martyr called, Ivory clambering up to the cockpit to see what was going on. What he saw coming out off the platform was 3 regular, if clearly worse for wear, TIE fighters of the kind that, not long ago, had struck fear into galaxy but the truly unnerving thing was leading the trio, a fighter that was clearly some kind of TIE variant but unlike any Ivory had ever seen, with 3 TIE wings, one attached to the top, left and right of the main pod, each split into 2, giving them a menacing pincer look and packing a large amount of firepower.

“what _is_ that?” Ivory asked with great fear as the squad screamed towards them

“that, I believe, is a TIE Defender, an experimental TIE variant that was in development as one of many other Imperial projects competing with the Death Star for funding in the years before the start of the war. All the files I read on it said that it was scuppered by Rebel interlopers and its funding diverted to the Death Star with most of the prototypes destroyed, some captured by the rebels and others broken down for parts by civilians, leaving only a handful in Imperial hands, how a small-timer like Pex got his hands on one of those few, I have no idea” Martyr answered

“I think the more important question, is how soon can we get the hell out of here!” Ivory panicked

“that’s a no-go, they’ll know where we’ll most likely go and one of the major innovations of the Defender was a hyperdrive, so we’re going to have to stand and fight” Martyr noted grimly

“oh, that’s just not fair!” Ivory stropped, “ok, second question, how do we destroy it?”

“with much difficulty, as it also comes fitted with a sheild generator” Martyr noted

“for the love of---, ok, let’s kill the regular TIEs first and then take on big man” Ivory sighed, loosing a volley of fire into one of the TIEs which hit home blowing it to smithereens then working with Martyr to swerve the ship out of the way of an oncoming barrage of missiles from the Defender.

“it has missile pods?!” Ivory spluttered indigently

“it has missile pods” Martyr stated bluntly as they banked the ship around to flank the TIE fighters, loosing a volley of fire into a second TIE fighter before they were able to react, destroying it. Unfortunately, when the remaining duo did react, they began making a b-line straight towards them, the Defender landing a volley of laser fire on the _Razor Crest_ , shaking the ship the hard and causing some terminals in the cockpit to spark worryingly.

“blast! We can’t take another hit like that!” Ivory cursed as they dodged another volley fire while bringing the ship alongside the TIE fighter, sideswiping it into the Defender, destroying the TIE and scraping one of the wings off the Defender, they then boosted the ship out to a distance to avoid the Defender retaliating with a point-blank missile barrage which would have almost certainly destroyed the ship.

“just you and us now, big man” Ivory called out cockily as they loosed a volley of laser fire on the temporarily outflanked Defender as it struggled to come about with its impaired mobility, though when it did come about, it responded to the boast with a proton torpedo which Martyr and Ivory were only able to dodge out of the way of by a hair’s length, the torpedo screaming past them, audibly scorching one of the _Razor Crest_ ’s engines.

“ooh, Mando is not going to be happy about that” Ivory flinched as they once again tried to outflank the Defender

“I think he will just be glad we didn’t destroy his ship” Martyr countered as they swerved out of the way of another laser volley from the Defender

“well then we’d be dead, and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it” Ivory posited

“eeh, he is a Mandalorian, I wouldn’t take that bet” Martyr cautioned

“fair enough,” Ivory admitted, “take this!” Ivory shouted at the Defender as they loosed another volley of laser fire at it destroying another one of its wings on impact, seemingly setting it into a spin before it reoriented itself, aiming towards the _Razor Crest_ and screaming towards it at top speed

“that pilot is insane! give it everything we’ve got!” Ivory panicked as they loosed volley after volley into Defender only managing to destroy it mere centimetres from impact, debris clawed across the hull, causing quite a bit of structural damage but luckily not seeming to hit anything critical.

“huh, huh,” Ivory breathed hard, “lets get out of here”

“don’t need to tell me twice” Martyr replied with deep breaths, punching the ship into hyperspace back to Karazak

“ok, I guess your mad flying is good for something” Xi’an admitted as Ivory and Martyr clambered down into the hold

“glad you saw sense” Ivory retorted

“the only thing I’m seeing is credit signs, so thanks for keeping alive so I can spend them” Xi’an said

“thanks, you crazy daughter of a gundark” Ivory barbed

“back at ya” Xi’an retorted with a sharp grin

Ivory chuckled at this saying “now that our criticalness to your survival has been asserted, does anyone have any idea on what kind of mad genius was able to fit a hyperdrive, a sheild generator and that kind of firepower on the TIE platform?”

“well, all the files I read had the names of the Persons of Interest redacted, but rumour within the Officer Corps had it that the mastermind was a fiendishly clever demon with blue skin” Martyr answered with a light chuckle

“like the ones from the Unknown Regions that the deep-space pilots would ramble on about when high on spice back home? How likely is that?” Ivory objected

“not very, but does anyone have any better suggestions?” Martyr asked, everyone remained silent

“well, regardless, they evidently weren’t smart enough to stop you from destroying it and allowin’ us all to profit enough day” Ran noted. The crew, save for the Mandalorian, who remained stony silent, continued to muse over their credits and the Defender until the _Razor Crest_ dropped out of hyperspace into the Karazak system, Ivory and Martyr returning to the cockpit to dock the ship back in _The Whitedrift Exchange_.

As the crew disembarked the ship, a voice came over the intercom saying “the whitedrift will be making a hyperspace jump to the Batonn system in 30 minutes, anyone wishing to stay in this system should depart promptly, thank you”

“ah, me and Ivory were planning to stay in this neck of the galaxy, so I guess this is where we part ways, so, thanks for everything, you psychopaths” Ivory said

“the same, pleasure doin’ business with the both of ya” Ran replied, shaking Ivory and Martyr’s hands before beckoning Xi’an and The Mandalorian to follow him deeper into the station, presumably for drinks.

Before The Mandalorian could follow them however, Martyr put a hand on his armoured shoulder and said “hey, I know your probably going through some stuff, I know what its like to have your morals shaken to their core and honestly, the only thing keeping alive and sane is Ivory, he’s my anchor in a murky sea,” she breathed, “what I’m trying to say is, I think you need to find someone who you can truly rely on in this mad, mad galaxy. You got that?” she finished, The Mandalorian replied with a curt nod before turning to join Xi’an and Ran in the shadowy tangled web as Ivory and Martyr wandered off into the bright light of Karazak’s sun in search of place that was warm but not too warm. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading to the end! once again any and all constructive criticism and feedback is appreciated.


End file.
